Pedophile on Kik app: It's well known in our industry'

The phone call came into the newsroom the day after 14 men were nabbed on child pornography charges in a statewide sting.

Sounding childish and creepy at times, the man admitted Friday to previously being charged with possession of child porn and endangering the welfare of a child.

He also disclosed how he obtained the pics and videos that got him in trouble.

“There are two applications on the internet that kids go on, but adults are also on it,” said the man, who would not identify himself. “I could go on it now and probably within 20 minutes have videos, pictures, everything else in between off the app because I know they’re both still active. That’s where all the child porn is coming off of.”

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The pedophile said any predator could simply download the Kik messenger app for a mobile phone, make up a bogus username, and through Kik download another app called Hit Me Up.

“With the combination of both of those apps, you go on and say ‘I like little boys between this age and this age,’ and people would start sending you pictures,” the Gloucester County man said. “Because that’s how I did it when I was doing it.”

The man who claimed to receive three years probation from his pedophilia charges said he was curious if the apps were still active after reading about the Operation Predator Alert II sting by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, and checked it out for himself.

“I made a stupid username and within five minutes, I got 20 pictures,” he said of the app that allows users to talk, browse and share content. “Kids are always on. You can even ask the kids on there to send pictures and they do. Those apps are well known in our industry.”

When asked if he was afraid that he could get arrested again, the pedophile responded, “I deleted all of it. It’s not even on my phone no more.”

Like the perverts, the authorities are also well aware the app that boasts 150 million users.

Peter Aseltine, spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office, said the technology did come up with respect to some of the defendants in the recent sting.

“In a couple cases, we did evidence use of that app,” he said Monday. “We have encountered that app being used in certain cases.”

Last week, a Lawrence man was accused of sexually assaulting children and possessing child porn.

Police said Adam E. Carnevale, 27, was found with 14 photographs of a female in different stages of nudity and one video of that female masturbating. Police later identified the girl as a 13-year-old resident of Bensalem, Pa.

The girl told police that an unknown person, believed to be Carnevale, messaged her through Kik, and that she agreed to send the pictures and video to him. The girl also said she agreed to meet Carnevale at a mall in Philadelphia, but later “chickened out.”

Despite the recent reports of predators using Kik, the Canadian company based in Waterloo, Ontario said in a statement it has “put a major emphasis on building features and resources for users and parents.”

“Unlike many other smartphone instant messengers, which are based on a users’ phone number, Kik has always used usernames to identify our users,” the company stated. “By using usernames instead of phone numbers as the unique identifier on Kik, users’ personal information like cell phone numbers and email addresses are never, ever shared on Kik.”

As for Hit Me Up, the company stated it found some traces of the app in a cached version of the iTunes store.

“But it appears Apple has already removed this app, or the developer voluntarily removed it,” the statement said from the company founded in 2009 by a group of University of Waterloo students.

The company said it also actively cooperates with law enforcement and government agencies globally to provide assistance in many different types of investigations.

“If we are contacted by law enforcement, or if something is reported to us by one of our users, Kik has policies and processes in place to help us respond in the best way possible,” the company stated.

Gina Hernandez, vice president of Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey, provided FBI tips for parents to minimize the chances of an online predator victimizing their child. They include:

? Spend time with your children online. Talk with them about their favorite online destinations

? Keep the computer in a common room in the house, not in your child’s bedroom. It is much more difficult for a computer-sex offender to communicate with a child when the computer screen is visible to a parent or another member of the household. If it is an app establish guidelines as to times/locations when they can utilize their phone, etc.

? Utilize parental controls provided by your service provider and/or blocking software. While electronic chat can be a great place for children to make new friends and discuss various topics of interest, it is also prowled by computer-sex offenders. Use of chat rooms, in particular, should be heavily monitored. While parents should utilize these mechanisms, they should not totally rely on them

The FBI tells parents to talk to their children about the following and why they are dangerous:

? To never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they met online

? To never upload (post) pictures of themselves onto the Internet or on-line service to people they do not personally know and even if they DO know them caution should be used. Once a picture is sent it can be shared maliciously & easily

? To never give out identifying information such as their name, home address, school name, or telephone number

? To never download pictures from an unknown source, as there is a good chance there could be sexually explicit images

? To never respond to messages or bulletin board postings that are suggestive, obscene, belligerent or harassing

? That whatever they are told online may or may not be true

“The best prevention tips we can give parents is that we need to be honest, upfront and communicate with our kids about the dangers of apps and the internet overall ... and we need to do this more than once,” Hernandez said. “Parents also need to stay up to date on the news apps, technology and language that kids are using. Parents need to do their homework so they know how to best protect their children from online predators.”

In the meantime, predators like the guy who called The Trentonian offices are still out there.

“The cops in Trenton don’t even know about me, and I’m going to keep it that way,” the man said laughing awkwardly.

About the Author

Originally from Webster, N.Y., David has been a reporter in N.J. for the past three years (first in Phillipsburg and now in Trenton).He is a Temple alum who interned at the Philadelphia Daily News. Reach the author at dfoster@trentonian.com
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